Category: journal: lessons to learn

Posted in "OPINIONATION", Days of Honey, Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, journal: lessons to learn

becoming a purple thread

Posted on by arlee

Certainly a vanity, thinking one knows everything, but i’ve always subscribed to “Learn something new everyday, and you know you’re not dead” — i *don’t* know everything, but i do my research and i’m happy to not only do the correct thing, but to riff on that once the lesson is learned. If i need an affirmation of something i’ve done or a puzzlement needs solving, i’ll ask, but i don’t JUST ask and expect the whole answer “with 8×10 glossies and paragraphs and arrows on the back” to be handed to me on a silver platter.

I remember asking a Contextural member a long time ago how she achieved a certain shade in her natural dyeing/ecoprinting, and she sweetly and truthfully replied “Every dyer has her secrets” with no smugness, and in all honesty. I took that to heart, learning what i could and often failing because i didn’t follow the basics first.

I’ve got that part well sussed now, and am quietly thrilled with the tried and true, and the experimenting. All of this past week’s naturally dyed threads here have notes on each as to what it is, but you’ll have to figure out certain parts for yourself 🙂

And the details in close-up:

Where these threads go next will be “the long white gown”,  metaphorically speaking.

Posted in Commission, Deliberation--do something you don't do--or haven't in awhile, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Tabula Memoria

making book

Posted on by arlee

A real learning curve! I tried several years ago to do a Blurb book, but got so bogged down that it’s still sidelined.

However, i’m older and smarter now :), and have more patience and persistence, so i go i go i go–for hours, working on the accompanying journal for “Tabula Memoria”.

I knew from the beginning of this project that i didn’t want to send off a haphazard accumulation of the writing, sketches and samples i did as i went along, that it had to be something that would last, possibly be passed on (to “heirs”?), and that looked professional. From the start of this to the end, i kept a separate file for the physical work (said writing, sketches, samples) and a digital one with folders and sub folders (and sub sub folders….!), planning somehow to collate and correlate at the end.

Once you learn the program, it *is* easy. The hard part is picking and choosing what truly is relevant, deciding what should be featured and what is less “interesting”, writing coherently and in a timeframe sense for each photo, and then deciding how many pages really are needed.

From the initial query from Mr X, to the first concept scribblings, through process and progress, thoughts, changes, references and honestly some blah-blah, i’m up to 45 pages, with only a few left to do. You have to know when to stop too! There could always be another book for the “extras”, incorporated for a “how to” maybe…..

And maybe, just maybe, i’ll finish that first one, because there are others i’d like to do too.

 

 

Posted in Dyeing, Ecoprints and Natural Dyes, Probably talking to just myself, Residency 2017

slow slow summer

Posted on by arlee

All i’m doing is experimenting, and adding knowledge, no stitching since finishing “Tabula Memoria”.

In all honesty too, time at ACAD for the residency has slipped away and i am left with a little more than a month to go, with very very little to show for it. Most of my ideas though are being utilized at home though so no loss really!

 

As much as i love all my commercially dyed threads, especially all the permutations of the variegated ones, i also want more naturally dyed choices, so i’m doing it myself. I can’t/won’t be doing huge batches, but enough to keep me happy at least. I’ll still use the “boughten” threads, and hopefully if all goes well with the pre-mordanting, will have a range of natural dye colours to supplement the arsenal.

I’ve gone through all my dyes and have enough of everything to get a BIG collection of colours, after different mordants and modifiers. This is more manageable in terms of space, time and effort also, as the batches can be quite small for threads.

Hoofies crossed.

 

Posted in Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, Probably talking to just myself, Residency 2017

residency exhibit plans again, revised

Posted on by arlee

Nothing has really been turning my crank, despite plans to maybe work from this or this. Sometimes it *is* good, or necessary to return to what we’ve done before, but as i looked for fabrics, i realized this is what has the juice flowing:

This piece of cotton lent to be used as a table protector by another residency participant, and neither of us is sure why or how it became so black. (It reads blue in these photos, but truly is BLACK.)

There’s also this piece of silk. Though i’m hesitant to cut it up, or obscure the patterning with stitch, it doesn’t do much good making fabrics that are juicey, but never get used.

For the minute, they are piled neatly with a few thread choices. I’m working on the journal that goes with “Tabula Memoria” and as i shuffle around photos and chunks of writing, the back of the vasty head will stew on the possibilities. I do know i am going to be more “sculptural” this time, something i have wanted to do for a long time. I need to dye some more silk thread with my hoarded rhubarb root as well for this plan.

We’ll see by the end of the week if “best laid plans” are going to work out.

Our vacation this summer has turned to a “stay-cation”: it’s painfully hot (hot enough you want to take your skin off, hot enough you want to kill someone, something, anything if it touches you), old Mo Cat is signalling the Rainbow Bridge’s FerryMan (sigh…), barely eating, moving or drinking, and the Greyman is sick, sick, sick. (When a die hard coffee drinker who even has a cup before bedtime won’t take one sip, you know he’s really Sick, not just that ManBaby thing.)

Posted in a collusion of ideas, Commission, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Tabula Memoria

an elegant solution

Posted on by arlee

That’s a Binary table above. I wrote out the entire phrase in it, punctuation included, and surmised that it would be insane to stitch the whole thing this way…………I’m “translating” a phrase that holds 58 characters, a piece of cake in regular text, but multiply those by 8 and that’s 464 little marks! The space available for that means my “numbers” have to be too tiny, which makes them impossible to read, and therefore pointless, and the TIME to do this wholly in Binary would exceed my timeline–given that there are other parts that still need working.

 

EUREKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Truly, the punctuation does not have to be in Binary, and when i started looking at the phrase, certain words jumped out, and became another phrase in themselves, fitting with(in) the original phrase, the meaning of the whole and *as* another consequential but purposeful catch of words. It also lessens the numbers of signifiers by 238, so i have “only” (HA) 226 to do. Given that some of these are now going to be actual letters/words, it’s less daunting, and requires less space, time and layout!

Yesterday at ACAD, i made a start as i waited for fabrics to percolate and imprint. And it took less time than i thought, not as much a worry as anticipated!

Proofreading was the hardest part 🙂

 

 

Posted in in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Residency 2017, Tabula Memoria

the heat is on

Posted on by arlee

Not really. The heat is OFF, damn it.

My third “batch” of fabrics are totally disappointing. The studio now is air conditioned, so things dry out much too faster. Every previous year i’ve been in there, i’ve sweltered and dripped, brought in fans while i was working, and didn’t worry about amounts of water on things. This year, HA. I’ve had to dump pints and quarts on things to make them work. Day three results are now actually day four results, because i had to leave things for 48 hours instead of the usual 24, and they were still SHIT.

Sigh. There’s going to be a lot of overdyeing. The largest piece was supposed to be for my res end exhibit piece, but i’ll have to rethink that now. I am reminded of my first res tip back in 2009: “Make a plan for what you’ll do, half it–and half it again”……………..

I guess i’ll be doing the majority of this technique at home in a hot sunny back 40, fighting the wind and bird poo instead! But there are other things i can do at the school stoodio, so with three months in this res, i’ll be trying a few different things. I have time to experiment and mess around, refine other processes, and just get dirty.

 

My deadline for Tabula Memoria is looming, the end of July, and while i have put in time with it, and am actually at a point where there technically is little left to do on it, it still needs to be worked on. (Phew, that’s one hell of a run on sentence…) I’ve been taking it with me to the fffFlower Mines (Day Job), and to the residency, so i can work on it—while doing the hurry up and wait thing!

The moon area was completed several weeks ago, and the standing figure is almost finished this week.

I can’t attach either figure until the other stitching is all done, because i don’t want to snag anything.

I started shopping around for a suitably sized stretched canvas to mount it on. The variance in prices is astounding! I’ve been quoted from $60 (seems way too low!) to $168 (way too high!) for a uniquely sized 41×43 frame, and might just end up building it myself. I do a wrap around technique, so though the actual work started at 48×46, stitch “shrinkage” had to be accounted for as well as the wrap around.

 

Posted in Indigo Dreams, journal: lessons to learn

indi-no-go

Posted on by arlee

123 vat left, chemical vat right:

The 123vat though did not oxidize, just came out with this “stain”. The chemical vat did oxidize, but the colour depth is sad. Starting to think that though the old vat *looks* impossible, i *might* be able to revive it again one more time. There’s still so much indigo in it, that i wonder if a big kick just won’t get it going again.

If i can get this 123vat to work harder, i’ve decided this will be not only the first, but the last time i do this one. I’m not such a purist that “organic” is going to matter much in the long run.

Posted in embrilting, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Tabula Memoria

last man standing

Posted on by arlee

The second figure for this piece has been a bit problematic. The original sketch’s colouring (above centre right) did not translate well the first time to the haremcloth—too green, too dark. The sampling (above centre left) was actually done before the large attempt at the stitching, but i lost sight of what it was and didn’t go to the now aborted attempt with it.

I’ve gone back to the idea of the stitched sample (which will become a small piece on its own, as i quite like it), for the colouring and the “flavour”. Less is more.

I however DID like the stitching i did on the first, so will be doing that again.

The tapestry frame worked a dream for stretching the expletive deleted haremcloth, keeping it taut and 99% on grain. I’m sure any nun or lace maker would agree that the 1% should be more important, but considering the piece when done will be loosely attached to the main background, subtle stitch manipulation will true it up.

I stitched it to both sides, then flipped it over and stitched one end because there was enough overlap, but the other end had to be stapled because there wasn’t enough at the end to fold over. Poohpoohpeedoo, it worked.

Now we’ll see if i can work it this way, as i am unused to hooping of any sort, except on the very very rare occasion. I suspect i’ll be propping it on the edge of a table, and working stab fashion, instead of my usual fold, borgle, crumple method.

Posted in Indigo Dreams, journal: lessons to learn

indigo frustrations

Posted on by arlee

Now WHY would the henna (123 vat) solution work as a solution, but not as a vat when added to more water??????????? Maybe the henna IS too old after all to keep working in the increased volume? Whatever! I’m completely frustrated by this, and to boot, the chemical vat is not working either. WTF? I did recommended “top-ups”, still Nada.

(Proceed to step two of frustration: slam doors, stomp around, curse, yell at the vats.)

SO, if a 123 is considered a fructose vat, i had to cast around for some info on what i could use for the fructose. Yeah right, the one week we have only apples and oranges in the fruit bowl…..oranges are too acidic and apparently apples do not work. BUGGER. Taking a trip up to the Co-op would necessitate getting dressed, catching a bus, doing the shopping, getting back on a bus, getting home, and undressing (errr, changing back into to the HouseClothes.) RAISINS!! Oh joy, usually we have two huge jars crammed with them. What do i find? One scant 3/4 cup.

Step three: weep.

Step four, just huck the damn things in a pot with 3 cups of water and boil, then cook for 5 minutes. Decant the syrupy sweet smelling liquid. (Henna smells like pudding made with mud.) Cool somewhat and gently introduce to the 123 vat. “Hello Stoopid, meet Fructose. Fructose, meet Stoopid. Get jiggy with each other please, i promise not to peek.”

Step five; keep hoofies crossed. Go do something else.

As to the “chemical” vat, i am going back to the original MAIWA instructions. Nobody else’s method seems to work, though you’d think it would all be the same. Something is missing there, but not sure what. I compared all the measurements, the instructions, the temps, and i’ll be bamfoozled if i can see any discernible difference……….  MAIWA’s method helped me revive a  frozen-through-three-harsh-Calgary-winters vat (NOT the true definition of a 123 vat), so i’m sticking to them!

FINE> I’ll have go back to embrilting in the meantime to wile the waiting away……………………